


The Long Con - Chapter 1

by TehGreyStorm



Series: The Long Con [1]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 12:11:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10513521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TehGreyStorm/pseuds/TehGreyStorm
Summary: When Twisted Fate left his home in the Serpentine, he had never planned to ever return. But after a con gone wrong, he finds himself forced back there by a certain yordle who can't seem to leave him be. Investigating rumors of a river monster, the card shark must face his past for a bid at freedom. However, far more is at stake than he realizes, and soon a water monster isn't the only kind of demon he will have to face.





	

A hiss of steam cut through the bustling night on the lower streets of Piltover. Crowded streets obscured by the heavy vapor of the clouds nearly hummed with activity. Tinkers with their workshops, thaumaturgists with their potions, and Hextech engineers with their arcane arrays all lined the alleys, selling their wares to the highest bidders.  
High above the city, perched on the top of a massive clock tower, Caitlyn sat, peering down into the bright blur below her. Several large gears clanked behind her as the clock’s exterior workings noisily ground away. She bit her lip, subconsciously tightening her grip on the stock of her rifle. It wouldn’t be long now.  
Resting the barrel of the gun along the metal border of the roof, she crouched down, adjusting her scope. Slowly, the haze separated beneath the magnified gaze to reveal the street in much greater detail. Her sights were trained on a large crowd of people, huddled around what seemed to be a small wooden table. At the far side, his back against a nearby brick wall, a man in a long black trench coat sat, leaning casually away from the table. A thick brimmed hat that looked as if it had seen far better days obscured most of his face.  
One by one, people began to walk away from the table after taking their place across from the man, only to look far more disappointed than when they had sat down. It was illegal, Caitlyn knew, but there was something about street hustlers that had always entertained her. However, she wasn’t on duty to gawk.  
“Vi, do you have a visual on the target?” she asked, speaking directly into the radio in her ear.  
There was a sharp burst of static before another, much more enthusiastic voice replied, “Got ‘im right in my sights. He’s never gonna see this coming.”  
“Do try not to ruin the city block this time, will you dear?” Caitlyn replied with a smirk, but there was a hint of exasperation in her tone.  
“Gotta be a killjoy, don’t you?” Vi responded.  
It had been months in the making, but it seemed as if they were finally about to finish the investigation. Two hundred thousand gold pieces, several property deeds, and an untold number of personal effects had been bartered away recently in games of chance all over the city, and unfortunately, the culprit seemed more adept at evading capture than even the most hardened Zaun fugitive. Caitlyn gritted her teeth. It would be easy if he were a mass murderer, but all this one had done was to relieve idiots of their excess. Still, the law was the law, and this would be the last day that the man with the moniker Twisted Fate would walk away free.  
Below Caitlyn’s perch, the crowd was growing thicker around the card shark. Jack of hearts, Queen of spades, eight of clubs, Ace of diamonds – they all flew back and forth on the table in a simplistic shell game. Quick hands and an even quicker mind kept Twisted Fate ahead of his prey. One by one they were dropping like flies, attracting even more to the spectacle. He half laughed to himself. Even the worst gambler knew when to cut their losses and move on. Piltover apparently had no gamblers, only rich idiots.  
Seems like it’s just about time. He sighed and sat forward to the table. It would come any second now. Piltover cops always thought they were a step ahead of everyone. Years of cons had taught him though that the easiest marks always thought they has a winning hand. For his part, he was content to allow them to continue thinking that.  
“Folks, I do declare that I have had a wonderful time. But I must bid you a very fond farewell,” the gambler drawled with a showy bow. “It has been a pleasure to provide you with an evening’s divergence from your mundane tasks.”  
At that moment the wall behind him shook terribly as a large metal fist burst through. Stepping lazily to the side, he dodged the ill-placed strike and gave a showman’s flourish to the crowd. Applause rose immediately as Vi tried desperately to pull her fist out of the tight opening it had made.  
“It would seem my police escort has just arrived,” he said loudly to a response of cheers and laughter from the watchers. “Or perhaps I mistakenly called Piltover Demolition, I cannot recall.”  
“Damn it, Vi!” Caitlyn’s voice hissed through the radio in the officer’s ear as she plowed through the wall. “You were supposed to wait for the signal!”  
But the armored brawler ignored the stream of swearing that followed. Intent on her target, she swung wildly at Twisted Fate. The way he casually dodged her fists seemed to mock her as he never even removed his hands from his pockets. Unwilling to be made to look like a fool, Vi charged her pneumatic fist, launching herself forward with incredible force. Just at the last moment, Twisted Fate flattened himself out, sending the officer directly over top of him, careening into a wall across the block. As the massive metal building she had hit nearly crumpled under the force, the card shark tipped his hat to her.  
“It’s time I showed myself outta here,” he said under his breath, pulling out a deck of cards.  
He tore off the top, flinging them into the air all around him. Glowing with magical energy, they flew in a storm around where he stood. Caitlyn panicked. He was getting away. Flicking the safety off of her rifle, she focused down the scope. The cards were so thick there was only an inch or two of gap between them at any given time. The shot would have to be precise. Taking a sharp breath and holding it in, Caitlyn pulled the trigger.  
The shot rang out through the dead air that seemed to go silent with the concussion. Down below the swirling cards suddenly burst into a wild, uncontrolled frenzy until they fell down like rain. Still holding her breath, Caitlyn refocused her scope. She had to confirm the kill. There was no way he had…  
But when she saw the crowd, there was no body. Instead, laying on the table was a single Joker card with a hole directly through the jester’s forehead.  
“A beaut’ of a shot, if I do say so myself,” a deep voice said with a twang behind her.  
Turning on the spot, Caitlyn armed her net, only to be met by a flash of gold. Stunned, she sat helplessly against the edge of the building as if she had been frozen solid. Sauntering over, the gambler reached down and removed the handcuffs from her belt and attached them to a nearby pipe. Much to her relief, it did not seem that he intended to shove Piltover’s Finest off the roof. However with the way he rifled through her bag, he seemed to have no qualms about robbing her blind.  
“You know, Malcolm Graves wouldn’t have stolen from innocent people,” she snarled, just barely able to move her mouth enough to speak.  
“Darling, there ain’t no such thing as an innocent person. From Zaun to Bilgewater everyone’s got their own agenda, and I just take from the worst of ‘em,” Twisted Fate replied, doffing his hat as he stood. “Those folks down there had plenty to lose; they won’t miss it for long. So au’revoir my sweet, and since you are so fond of quoting my dear friend, allow me to bid you a fond farewell with one of his favorite colloquialisms. You were close, but no cigar.”  
In another flash of light and flurry of cards, he was gone. The roof, aside from the very frustrated officer, was deserted. Some blocks away, Twisted Fate stepped from the shadows, sliding the deck of cards back into his sleeve. Flipping a coin from his thumb, he strolled down the alleyway. He supposed it was time to leave. This town was tapped out anyway.  
However, before he could reach the main streets to blend into the crowd, something small appeared in his path. That something was a yordle, specifically a light blue yordle with pigtails, heavy armor, and a giant hammer. She had one fang-like tooth that stuck out beyond her lip that seemed to intensify her childlike appearance. But regardless of how she looked, the hammer gave the card shark reason to be cautious.  
“Pardon me,” he said, pulling the brim of his hat over his eyes.  
The yordle didn’t move, but instead stared up at him with her oversized eyes gleaming in the dim light. She looked puzzled, her hand straying to the handle of her hammer. Finally, she spoke.  
“Hey, you aren’t…you are…I’ve been looking all over for you!” she said, suddenly beaming from one massive pointed ear to the other.  
“I’m sorry ma’am but I’ve not had the pleasure to make your acquaintance before, and I do apologize, but I am in a hurry. Some unsavory characters have taken to following me,” he said, slowly backing down the alley.  
“No! You can’t go yet! I have to talk to you!” the yordle pleaded, though the gambler noticed her hand remained on the hammer.  
“Missy, this is not a matter of debate. Now, I really have to – “ he began but was cut off abruptly as a wall of brick came hurtling out at him. In its place, a massive metal fist hung in the air.  
“Got ‘im!” Vi called from within the nearby structure, pulling her fist back inside as the Yordle stared down at the now unmoving conman.  
It was an hour before Twisted Fate woke up, chained to a metal chair. The interrogation room he was in was lit with a sterile light that reminded him of the countless jails he’d been in before. This would be no different. No cell had ever held him before, and he saw little reason to change that now.  
Suddenly, the door to the cell opened. Perhaps it was the effects of Vi’s punch wearing off, but Twisted Fate could have sworn he had seen a bear in uniform eating a donut and talking to a troll. Shaking the thought off, he closed his eyes and squinted against the light.  
“You know, I didn’t mean nothing by what I said on the roof,” he said, only opening his eyes once the light had been pushed away.  
But to his surprise, it wasn’t Caitlyn or Vi looming over him, but instead, the Yordle was there. In the clearer setting of the police station, he could clearly see that it wasn’t just any Yordle, but Poppy, the Keeper of the Hammer. Groaning, he slumped over in his seat.  
“Look missy,” he drawled with all the frustration of a man being kept from his business, “It’s mighty valiant that you are seeking this foretold hero, but I can assure you, it ain’t me, I don’t know ‘em, and I don’t know where to find ‘em. So unless you have some awful compelling reason for me to stick around, I will be on my merry way.”  
“It’s not about the Hero! It has to do with the Serpentine,” she pleaded, her large Yordle eyes gleaming up at him.  
“Young lady, I’d sooner crawl naked through the Shadow Isles than go back where I’m not wanted,” he replied, curling his lip in disgust.  
“No, you have to understand,” she continued. “Something’s happening there, people are disappearing.”  
“Well, ain’t that mighty convenient. Just as I am finally arrested by Piltover’s finest, there’s a problem back in my hometown. Now I suspect you believe I will hasten to your side and accompany you on this quest that will inevitably end elsewhere than my preferred destination at any one of this land’s fine bars,” he replied in a tired fashion.  
“If you would shut up for a second, jackass, you might learn something,” she snapped, scowling at the card shark and baring the small fang-like tooth that ever protruded past her lip. “I had been up that way on my ‘stupid little quest’ when I noticed something was wrong. It was the middle of the day and no one seemed to be around. All the house boats were anchored and still, and for river nomads not to be, well nomadic, I knew something had to be up so I asked around. That’s when I learned about the disappearances. While I’m on a mission, I can’t exactly let those people suffer. So I started looking for you, and when I heard about a card shark in Piltover…well you know the rest.”  
“Honey, while your heart is in the right place, you should know, those people tend not to like visitors. You being there could have just set ‘em right off,” Twisted Fate replied, softening a little, though still obviously annoyed.  
“I’d rather know for sure. All I’m asking is that you come take a look with me. That’s it. Then you’re free to go,” Poppy answered, though her last statement earned her several dirty looks from Vi and Caitlyn who both seemed intent on locking away the gambler for good.  
“That’s all well and good, but dear, those folks never want to see hide nor hair of me again. You’re likely to do more harm than good bringing me along,” he said. “So I am terribly sorry, but you should just let it go. Nomads are nomads sweetie. They’re drifters. They tend to – well drift. Don’t take it personal. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a terrible amount of money to go spend.”  
“You should know,” the Demacian began with grim scowl, “Malcolm Graves was investigating the vanishings.”  
The card shark laughed. “He always did have a soft spot. Always getting involved where he shouldn’t.”  
“Unfortunately, you’re right. He’s among the missing now,” the Yordle finished.  
Leaping down from the table, the gambler got to one knee to look the Yordle directly in the eye. Her massive eyes shimmered out at him with the strange cartoon-like effect that all of her kind seemed to have.  
“Now you best think out your next words real carefully. Make every syllable count, because for the next five or so minutes, you have my undivided attention.”


End file.
